If you find that you have QuickBooks Online Essentials or Plus, but that you could get by with a lower and less expensive subscription level, i.e. Simple Start, it is possible to downgrade. That is the good news. The bad news is that it's not as easy as you hope it will be. In fact, it's a real pain. But I can tell you how to do it, or I can do it for you if you prefer.

To make sure that a lower subscription level will meet your needs, check out Intuit's comparison chart here.

You cannot downgrade your subscription in your Account Preferences - you can only upgrade. While I understand that there are database structure issues inherent in downgrading, Intuit could certainly make the process much easier than they do if they wanted to. But until they decide to let us downconvert, here is what you will need to do.

In short, you must export a backup file from QBO to your computer, restore that backup file into QuickBooks Pro (Quickbooks for Windows), and then upload that QuickBooks Pro company file to a brand new subscription of QuickBooks Online. Once you are comfortable with your new QBO company you can cancel your old one. Check with Intuit before you begin the process to make sure they will refund the unused portion of your paid subscription. Here are the detailed instructions:

Obtain a trial copy of QuickBooks Pro for Windows. QuickBooks Online Support can provide one to you.

In Internet Explorer (other browsers are not currently supported for this function), export a .QBB file from QBO to your computer. Gear Icon > Export Data.

Restore that .QBB file into QuickBooks Pro. File > Open or Restore Company > Restore a Backup Copy.

Create a brand new trial subscription of your new chosen subscription level of QuickBooks Online.

Follow the instructions to import your QuickBooks desktop data into your new QuickBooks Online company. Make SURE that you upload the desktop data into your NEW (empty) company, and not your original one - if you are logged into your original company and upload the desktop data into it, you will overwrite ALL of your original company data. Not good!

Compare the following reports from your original QBO file, and your new QBO file, on today's date, to make sure that your data has retained its integrity throughout the process:

Profit & Loss (Accrual Basis )

Balance Sheet (Accrual Basis)

A/R Aging Summary

Accounts Payable - you will lose your Bills (A/P) if you downgrade from QBO Plus to either of the lower levels, so you may have to make journal entries to restore your A/P balance to the correct original balance.

Be aware that you will probably lose some "stuff" in the process. For example, memorized reports and custom forms are not compatible between QB desktop & online versions and will not transfer back and forth. You will lose them and will need to recreate them in your new company. If you used classes, departments or locations in QBO Plus, you will lose them by downgrading to Simple Start or Essentials. There will probably be other surprises in your customer, vendor, and item lists, and your chart of accounts as well. For example, you may have to recreate the parent account/subaccount structure of your chart of accounts to match your original structure.

QuickBooks Online Certified ProAdvisors such as myself can guide you through this process or take the entire project from start to finish if you prefer. I have done these conversions for as little as $150. Considering you save around $27 a month by downgrading from Plus to Simple Start, the $150 conversion cost is recovered in as little as 6 months and you continue to save $27 per month on subscription fees every month after that, which adds up fast! Contact me if you are interested in this service.

The Online edition's Advanced Search tool is very simple to use if you know how to use the "Search" and "Add Filter" buttons. If you are filtering by only one criteria such as Date, Amount, or Name, or Transaction Type, then it is very simple - you use the "Search" button. But if you'd like to filter by multiple criteria such as Expenses in June under $20, then you add the criteria one-by-one using the "Add Filter" button. Do not use the "Search" button if you are filtering by multiple criteria. Pushing the "Search" button when you have multiple filtering criteria set will erase all but the most recent criteria from your query and you will have to start over. Unfortunately the current Online version's search tool is much less robust than the Desktop versions' search tools. The Online tool limits us to one transaction type and 3 filter criteria per search. But it's usually enough to get the job done for me.